Everything we do has an effect. From the toothpaste we use to brush our teeth, to the eggs we eat for breakfast. Whether or not we take the bus to work or school, or walk, or drive individually in a car. Did you pack your lunch today in a paper bag and wrap everything inside in plastic? Maybe you took the time to find a recycling bin for your empty plastic bottle. Do you own a reuseable bottle? Do you try and buy local, keeping more money in the community? Do you separate your trash? Do you choose not to eat processed foods? Do you carpool?

In the face of global climate change, most of us are thinking about these things, choosing to reduce, reuse, and recycle, whether for hipster reasons or more genuine ones. But do you ever stop and think about what the Web is doing to the environment?

The web makes life easy. We get up in the morning, find out what the weather is going to be, check on friends through Facebook and learn more about the world we live in. We keep in touch, work distantly, share knowledge. We explore other cultures, learn from experts, and contribute to collaborative projects. We enhance our lives in a myriad of ways that wouldn’t be possible without the web. And it’s all “green” right? Good for the earth?

Well, not really.

Every minute, every hour we spend connected, we are gaining valuable information… and losing valuable resources. It’s not just our laptops and desktops, but our televisions, our mobile phones, our iPods, our xboxes… any electronic device, really.  And its not just the energy it takes to power your device and the web itself, its also the materials that went into creating the devices and the energy that was used and the greenhouse gases that were emitted to manufacture the device.

We can’t eliminate computers and cell phones and gadgets from our lives, so we just have to learn to be more environmentally friendly about the way we manufacture and use electronics and the internet. We have to learn to be aware, and (please excuse the rhyme…) we have to learn to share, too. We have to tell our friends and family, and not in a preachy way, but in a “did you know?” kind of way.

We need to learn how to conserve energy, not just at home and at work but online too. Which is why I developed InteractiveCarbon.com, a resource for more information and also a handy tool you can use to get others interested in conserving energy too.

Or at least get them thinking about it. Check it out here.

Astounding, isn’t it, to think that only 1 out of every 4 people in the world can hop online at any given moment? While internet access rates in the United States are high, accessibility issues exist here too. For instance, in North Carolina, only 61% of the population has access to the internet at home. We’re rated 41st out the nation. Clearly, we have some work to do.

And now for a trip down memory lane: Do you remember the first time you accessed the internet? Was it at school or at home? Was it for class work or for entertainment?

Sadly, I don’t. I remember playing with PrintShopDeluxe to make birthday banners and I remember learning to type on Mario Teaches Typing at my dad’s insistence. But I cannot for the life of me recall the first time I accessed the Web. What does that say about the generation born in the mid 1980s? Am I the only one who doesn’t remember her first Web experience? Does the generation before or after me mark this as more of a milestone in their lives?

I can remember my first email account, which was registered with excite.com. I chose them because you could change the colors of your home page, which I thought was super cool way back in eighth grade.

Anyway, I digress. Get out there and have a fabulous OneWebDay! Go watch some video stories here of personal accounts of the web, or leave a comment below with your first World Wide Web memory. I’d love to hear from you!

The web opens an endless possibility of job postings all over the globe.  Currently the web supports job search companies such as Monster, Career Builder, Yahoo HotJobs etc.  These tools can be helpful if you have a very specific type of profession or physical area you want to work in. 

The unemployment rate is currently at 7.2%, the highest in 15 years.  This is clearly a needed web resource for people today.  How job searching is being conducted has changed as well.  People are playing the numbers game when it comes to employment.  Applying to a massive number of jobs because they know that almost all will lead to dead ends.  While the web has provided the opportunity to search all over the world, it has also created false avenues.  Experienced job searchers know how to recognize these, but if your new to the job search its an easy trap to fall in to.

Social networking has provided a platform for people looking for employment to meet and discuss possible opportunities on the web. Proving the old saying “it’s not about what you know, but who you know.”

This of course has affected employers and how they look for qualified employees.  Instead of posting job openings and descriptions with job employment agencies or newspapers, they are being put on the web.  Many organizations are also posting availabilities in multiple places.  Both on the company web page and on job search engines and of course, word of mouth spread by social networking.     

15 years ago when unemployment levels were just as high but people didn’t have the Internet as such an accessible tool.  Will  unemployment rates lower faster because of such a resource?  In celebration of OneWeb Day, think about those who were able to send their kids to college, buy a house, buy a car and find security, all from finding “the dream job” on the web.